Slapsticon Notes: PROFESSOR BEWARE (1938)
Posted: Sat Jun 16, 2018 6:45 am
PROFESSOR BEWARE (Harold Lloyd Corp- Paramount Pictures released June 20, 1938)
Director: Elliot Nugent, Writers: Delmer Daves, Jack Cunningham, Clyde Bruckman, based on a story by Crampton Harris, Francis M. Cockrell, Marian B. Cockrell. Camera: Archie Stout, Editor: Duncan Mansfield.
Cast: Harold Lloyd, Phyllis Welch, Raymond Walburn, Lionel Stander, William Frawley, Thurston Hall, Cora Witherspoon, Sterling Holloway.
In some ways, Harold Lloyd may have been the biggest casualty of the Talkie Era in terms of the major Silent Clowns. After the huge success of his first talkie, WELCOME DANGER (1929), which may have had more to do with audience curiosity in hearing Lloyd speak than the quality of that overlong, less than spectacular comedy, Lloyd’s follow-up, FEET FIRST (1930) showed a marked decline in boxoffice. Lloyd and his Production Staff were definitely aware that something was wrong, and spent two years putting together his next talkie, MOVIE CRAZY(1932) and the hard work showed in what was his strongest sound film to date, yet good reviews and a Paramount publicity splash still amounted to only a fair gross, nothing compared to his silent releases.
Two more years passed as Lloyd and his team went for a different approach, making a more story-based/character-motivated film that did not rely on gags to carry the film, but THE CATS PAW was actually first-refused by Paramount, forcing Lloyd to release it through Fox in 1934, and once-again, despite good reviews (it’s the best Lloyd talkie in this Author’s opinion), the film barely broke even.
Back at Paramount, Lloyd threw up his hands and let the Studio produce his next picture. THE MILKY WAY had Leo McCarey at it’s helm, and a fine supporting cast that included Adolph Menjou, Lionel Stander, Verree Teasdale, William Gargan and George Barbier, and Paramount spared no expense, as it became Lloyd’s most costly picture to date, which may have had something to do with it’s barely breaking even as well, but suffice to say, at this point Harold Lloyd had to be very concerned about the future of his film career.
What was the problem? Well, to begin with, Lloyd was still on paper doing better than most of his former competitors. Chaplin had reduced his output to two films in the last decade, both silents, which had done well despite bucking the talkie trend, but it was becoming obvious that Chaplin could not continue as he was, and it would be a new decade before he would face the microphones in THE GREAT DICTATOR. Buster Keaton was drying out and just beginning his uphill climb back after hitting rock-bottom in 1936, soon to be working only as a writer with not even his Educational Comedies to keep his face before the Public. Harry Langdon was back in the Country after several years abroad, and living at the home of his friend Stan Laurel, rebuilding his career by gag-writing for Laurel and Hardy and making the occasional film appearance. So at least Harold Lloyd was still rich and making his own movies when he wanted to, but somehow, since talkies came in, audiences weren’t flocking to see him the way they had in the 1920’s.
Perhaps part of the problem was that Harold Lloyd was too much in control of his work, but his voice didn’t help, though not particularly unpleasant, it lacked much color and certainly had no eccentricity built into it that could define his character. Lloyd just didn’t sound like the brash go-getter he had played at his silent peak. Then again, Lloyd wasn’t a bright-eyed youngster anymore, and perhaps his inability to grasp that fact immediately made his characterization in talkies more problematic than it should have been. The major problem for Harold Lloyd was that times had definitely changed, the optimism of the Jazz Age had been replaced by the reality of the Depression and could Lloyd have been possibly a bit too well-cushioned from that reality to realize its consequences on his audience? The film Harold Lloyd should have made in the 1930’s was one having to do with his rich spoiled fellow ala WHY WORRY or FOR HEAVENS SAKE being brought low by Wall Street and having to fend for himself, or perhaps Lloyd could have a married bank teller who stopped a run on his financial institution in an even more comic version of AMERICAN MADNESS. But no, Harold Lloyd continued to be the go-getter, even when there was no go-to-be-getting, and the older he got, the stranger his character seemed. In short, Harold Lloyd never grew up.
Which finally brings us to PROFESSOR BEWARE, a film of Lloyds that has been somewhat unfairly dismissed and neglected by everyone. When it was released in 1938, it became the first Harold Lloyd film to suffer a dead loss at the boxoffice, and upon that realization, Lloyd promptly retired from making his own starring vehicles, at least until Preston Sturges got him to return once more for THE SIN OF HAROLD DIBBLEBOCK/MAD WEDNESDAY in 1947. PROFESSOR BEWARE just sort of slipped through the cracks after its release, Lloyd sold it to Paramount to cover his losses and basically washed his hands of it. It was not reissued as part of the large DVD set of Lloyd’s work a few years ago, and apart from one showing on the old American Movie Classics in the 1990’s has not really resurfaced anywhere, its reputation among Lloyd Fans and the Film History Community at large not particularly stellar. The pity there is, that though it is far from a perfect film, it actually comes pretty darn close to figuring out a way to make Harold Lloyd’s comic persona work in a 1930’s milieu.
If Harold Lloyd was not going to allow his character to grow up, then it’s definitely better to make him more of an eccentric like the befuddled professor Lambert who can convince himself that he’s a reincarnated Egyptian reliving the curse put upon him, all the better to send him off on a Frank Capraesque road-trip adventure that will allow him to find himself and romance as well. The plot construction here shows the lessons learned from THE CATS PAW allowing for stronger plotline and character development, but the travelling aspects of the story allow Lloyd the breathing room to throw in some decent gag sequences as well. On Lloyd’s terms, it’s about as good a compromise as you can expect, and considering that, by this point, Lloyd’s crack comedy staff was crumbling, only Clyde Bruckman and Jack Cunningham seem to be left, replaced with a screenplay by Delmer Daves and Direction by Elliot Nugent, neither known for spectacular senses of humor. In any event, this odd grouping appears to have been able to at least retool Harold Lloyd’s persona to become partially palatable to a new generation who didn’t know or dimly remembered Lloyd in his prime.
Unfortunately, it may have been a case of “too little, too late”, reviews of Lloyd’s talkies had begun to refer a bit too much to his “quaint silent comedy style”, and “a brand of entertainment he has set over a long span of years”. Whether Harold Lloyd had grown up or not, he had become a relic in the public’s eyes, and one that they did not particularly feel the need to revisit, and not being terribly comfortable with failure, Lloyd consigned PROFESSOR BEWARE to the dust heap, an unfair move considering it is really one of his better talkies, with another fine cast of solid supporting actors, good production values, and one of Lloyd’s better sound performances. Slapsticon hopes to correct some of this neglect by presenting it to you.
RICHARD M ROBERTS
Director: Elliot Nugent, Writers: Delmer Daves, Jack Cunningham, Clyde Bruckman, based on a story by Crampton Harris, Francis M. Cockrell, Marian B. Cockrell. Camera: Archie Stout, Editor: Duncan Mansfield.
Cast: Harold Lloyd, Phyllis Welch, Raymond Walburn, Lionel Stander, William Frawley, Thurston Hall, Cora Witherspoon, Sterling Holloway.
In some ways, Harold Lloyd may have been the biggest casualty of the Talkie Era in terms of the major Silent Clowns. After the huge success of his first talkie, WELCOME DANGER (1929), which may have had more to do with audience curiosity in hearing Lloyd speak than the quality of that overlong, less than spectacular comedy, Lloyd’s follow-up, FEET FIRST (1930) showed a marked decline in boxoffice. Lloyd and his Production Staff were definitely aware that something was wrong, and spent two years putting together his next talkie, MOVIE CRAZY(1932) and the hard work showed in what was his strongest sound film to date, yet good reviews and a Paramount publicity splash still amounted to only a fair gross, nothing compared to his silent releases.
Two more years passed as Lloyd and his team went for a different approach, making a more story-based/character-motivated film that did not rely on gags to carry the film, but THE CATS PAW was actually first-refused by Paramount, forcing Lloyd to release it through Fox in 1934, and once-again, despite good reviews (it’s the best Lloyd talkie in this Author’s opinion), the film barely broke even.
Back at Paramount, Lloyd threw up his hands and let the Studio produce his next picture. THE MILKY WAY had Leo McCarey at it’s helm, and a fine supporting cast that included Adolph Menjou, Lionel Stander, Verree Teasdale, William Gargan and George Barbier, and Paramount spared no expense, as it became Lloyd’s most costly picture to date, which may have had something to do with it’s barely breaking even as well, but suffice to say, at this point Harold Lloyd had to be very concerned about the future of his film career.
What was the problem? Well, to begin with, Lloyd was still on paper doing better than most of his former competitors. Chaplin had reduced his output to two films in the last decade, both silents, which had done well despite bucking the talkie trend, but it was becoming obvious that Chaplin could not continue as he was, and it would be a new decade before he would face the microphones in THE GREAT DICTATOR. Buster Keaton was drying out and just beginning his uphill climb back after hitting rock-bottom in 1936, soon to be working only as a writer with not even his Educational Comedies to keep his face before the Public. Harry Langdon was back in the Country after several years abroad, and living at the home of his friend Stan Laurel, rebuilding his career by gag-writing for Laurel and Hardy and making the occasional film appearance. So at least Harold Lloyd was still rich and making his own movies when he wanted to, but somehow, since talkies came in, audiences weren’t flocking to see him the way they had in the 1920’s.
Perhaps part of the problem was that Harold Lloyd was too much in control of his work, but his voice didn’t help, though not particularly unpleasant, it lacked much color and certainly had no eccentricity built into it that could define his character. Lloyd just didn’t sound like the brash go-getter he had played at his silent peak. Then again, Lloyd wasn’t a bright-eyed youngster anymore, and perhaps his inability to grasp that fact immediately made his characterization in talkies more problematic than it should have been. The major problem for Harold Lloyd was that times had definitely changed, the optimism of the Jazz Age had been replaced by the reality of the Depression and could Lloyd have been possibly a bit too well-cushioned from that reality to realize its consequences on his audience? The film Harold Lloyd should have made in the 1930’s was one having to do with his rich spoiled fellow ala WHY WORRY or FOR HEAVENS SAKE being brought low by Wall Street and having to fend for himself, or perhaps Lloyd could have a married bank teller who stopped a run on his financial institution in an even more comic version of AMERICAN MADNESS. But no, Harold Lloyd continued to be the go-getter, even when there was no go-to-be-getting, and the older he got, the stranger his character seemed. In short, Harold Lloyd never grew up.
Which finally brings us to PROFESSOR BEWARE, a film of Lloyds that has been somewhat unfairly dismissed and neglected by everyone. When it was released in 1938, it became the first Harold Lloyd film to suffer a dead loss at the boxoffice, and upon that realization, Lloyd promptly retired from making his own starring vehicles, at least until Preston Sturges got him to return once more for THE SIN OF HAROLD DIBBLEBOCK/MAD WEDNESDAY in 1947. PROFESSOR BEWARE just sort of slipped through the cracks after its release, Lloyd sold it to Paramount to cover his losses and basically washed his hands of it. It was not reissued as part of the large DVD set of Lloyd’s work a few years ago, and apart from one showing on the old American Movie Classics in the 1990’s has not really resurfaced anywhere, its reputation among Lloyd Fans and the Film History Community at large not particularly stellar. The pity there is, that though it is far from a perfect film, it actually comes pretty darn close to figuring out a way to make Harold Lloyd’s comic persona work in a 1930’s milieu.
If Harold Lloyd was not going to allow his character to grow up, then it’s definitely better to make him more of an eccentric like the befuddled professor Lambert who can convince himself that he’s a reincarnated Egyptian reliving the curse put upon him, all the better to send him off on a Frank Capraesque road-trip adventure that will allow him to find himself and romance as well. The plot construction here shows the lessons learned from THE CATS PAW allowing for stronger plotline and character development, but the travelling aspects of the story allow Lloyd the breathing room to throw in some decent gag sequences as well. On Lloyd’s terms, it’s about as good a compromise as you can expect, and considering that, by this point, Lloyd’s crack comedy staff was crumbling, only Clyde Bruckman and Jack Cunningham seem to be left, replaced with a screenplay by Delmer Daves and Direction by Elliot Nugent, neither known for spectacular senses of humor. In any event, this odd grouping appears to have been able to at least retool Harold Lloyd’s persona to become partially palatable to a new generation who didn’t know or dimly remembered Lloyd in his prime.
Unfortunately, it may have been a case of “too little, too late”, reviews of Lloyd’s talkies had begun to refer a bit too much to his “quaint silent comedy style”, and “a brand of entertainment he has set over a long span of years”. Whether Harold Lloyd had grown up or not, he had become a relic in the public’s eyes, and one that they did not particularly feel the need to revisit, and not being terribly comfortable with failure, Lloyd consigned PROFESSOR BEWARE to the dust heap, an unfair move considering it is really one of his better talkies, with another fine cast of solid supporting actors, good production values, and one of Lloyd’s better sound performances. Slapsticon hopes to correct some of this neglect by presenting it to you.
RICHARD M ROBERTS